Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/32

18 ENNIUS. Although under these circumstances it is ex- tremely difficult to form any accurate judgment with regard to his absolute merits as a poet, we are at least certain that his success was triumph- ant. For a long series of years his strains were read aloud to applauding multitudes, both in the metropolis and in the provinces ; and a class of men arose who, in imitation of the Homeristae, devoted themselves exclusively to the study and recitation of his works, receiving the appellation of Ennianistae. In the time of Cicero he was still considered the prince of Roman song (En- niuin summum Epicum poetam — de Opt. G. O. 1. Suinrntis poeta noster—pro Balh. 22) ; Virgil was not ashamed to borrow many of his thoughts, and not a few of his expressions ; and even the splen- dour of the Augustan age failed to throw him into the shade. And well did he merit the grati- tude of his adopted countrj'men ; for not only did he lay the basis of their literature, but actually constructed their language. He found the Latin tongue a rough, meagre, uncultivated dialect, Kiade up of ill-cemented fragments, gathered at random from a number of different sources, subject to no rules which might secure its stability, and destitute of any regular system of versification. He softened its asperities, he enlarged its vocabu- lary, he regulated its grammatical combinations, he amalgamated into one hannonious whole its various conflicting elements, and he introduced the heroic hexameter, and various other metres, long carefully elaborated by Grecian skill. Even in the disjointed and mutilated remains which have been transmitted to us, we observe a vigour of imagination, a national boldness of tone, and an energy of expression which amply justify the praises so liberally launched on his genius by the ancients ; and although we are perhaps at first repelled by the coarseness, clumsiness, and antique fashion of the garb in which his high thoughts are invested, we cannot but feel that what was after- wards gained in smoothness and refinement is a poor compensation for the loss of that freshness and strength which breathe the hearty spirit of the brave old days of Roman simplicity and free- dom. The criticism of Ovid, " Ennius ingenio maximus arte rudis," is fair, and happily worded ; but the fine simile of Quintilian, " Ennium sicut sacros vetustate lucos adoremus, in quibus grandia et antiqua robora, jam non tantam habent speciem, quantam religionem," more fully embodies our sentiments. We subjoin a catalogue of the works of Ennius, in 80 far as their titles can be ascertained. I. Annalium Lihri xviii. The most important of all his productions was a history of Rome in dactylic hexameters, commencing with the loves of Mars and Rhea, and reaching down to his own times. The subject was selected with great judg- ment. The picturesque fables, romantic legends, and chivalrous exploits with which it abounded, afforded full scope for the exercises of his poetical powers ; ho was enabled to testify gratitude to- wards his personal friends, and to propitiate the nobles as a body, by extolling their own lofty deeds and the glories of their sires ; and perhaps no theme could have been chosen so well calcu- lated to awaken the enthusiasm of all ranks among a proud, warlike, and as yet unlettered people. His fancy was cramped by none of those fetters imposed by a series of well ascertained ENNIUS. facts ; he was left to work his will upon the rude ballads of the vulgar, the wild traditions of the old patrician clans, and the meagre chronicles of the priests. Niebuhr conjectures that the beautiful history of the kings in Livy may have been taken from Ennius. No great space, however, was al- lotted to the earlier records, for the contest with Hannibal, which was evidently described with great minuteness, commenced with the seventh book, the first Punic war being passed over alto- gether, as we are told by Cicero. {Brut. 1 9.) II. Fahulae. The fame of Ennius as a dramatist, was little inferior to his reputation as an epic bard. His pieces, which were very numerous, appear to have been all translations or adaptations from the Greek, the metres of the originals being in most cases closely imitated. Fragments have been pre- served of the following tragedies : Achilles, Achilles (Aristarchi), Ajaoc, Alcjnaeon, Alexander, Andro' madia, Andromeda, Antiope, Athamas, Cresphontes, Dulorestes, Ereciheus^ Eume7iides, Hectoris Lytra, Hecuba, Iliona (doubtful), IpUgenia, Medea^ Medus, Melanipipa or Melanippm, Nemea, Nsapt- olemus, PJioenir, Telamon, Telephus, Thyestes ; and of the following comedies, belonging to the class oi palliatae: Amhracia, Cupiuncula (perhaps Ca- prunculus), Celesiis (name very doubtful), Fancror Hastes, s. Pancraiiastae. For full information as to the sources from whence these were derived, consult the editions of Hesselius and Bothe, together with the disserta- tions of Osann refeiTed to at the end of this ar- ticle. III. Satirae. In four (Porphyr. ad Ilor. Sat. i. 10), or according to others (Donat. ad TercMt. Pliorm. ii. 2. 25) in six books, of which less than twenty-five scattered lines are extant, but from these it is evident that the Satirae were composed in a great variety of metres, and from this circum- stance, in all probability, received their appella- tion. IV. Scipio. A panegyric upon the public career of his friend and patron, Africanus. The measure adopted seems to have been the trochaic tetram- eter catalectic, although a line quoted, possibly by mistake, in Macrobius {Sat. vi. 4) is a dactylic hexameter. The five verses and a half which we possess of this piece do not enable us to decide whether Valerius Maximus was entitled to term it (viii. 14) rude et impolititm praeconium. (Suidas, s. v.Evpios ; Schol. vet. ad Ilor. Sat. ii. 1. 16.) Some scholars have supposed that the Scipio was in reality a drama belonging to the class of the praetextaiae. V. Asotus. Varro and Festus when examining into the meaning of certain uncommon words, quote from " Ennius in Asoto," or as Scaliger, very erro- neously, insists "in Sotadico." The subject and nature of this piece are totally unknown. Many believe it to have been a comedy. VI. Epicharmus. From a few remnants, amount- ing altogether to little more than twenty lines, we gather that this must have been a philosophical didactic poem in which the nature of the gods, the human mind and its phaenomena, the physical structure of the universe and various kindred topics, were discussed. From the title we con- clude, that it was translated or imitated from Epicharmus the comic poet, who was a disciple of Pythagoras and is known to have written De Rerum Natura.